Surface

The ground package arm of FedEx will lease a CenterPoint-owned distribution and sorting facility in Auburn, Washington, six miles from Amazon's Kent fulfillment center and close to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.

High inventories nationwide continued to weigh down for-hire U.S. truck tonnage growth in January.

Technology provider and trucking association SMC3 is developing an "industry platform" that uses application program interfaces to link shippers, trucking companies and logistics providers. The platform is designed to speed supply chain communications and open the gates to more innovation.

The International Maritime Organization’s controversial container weight mandate could exacerbate the U.S. truck driver shortage and crimp supply chains far inland from U.S. ports.

Third-party logistics providers already control about 25 percent of the less-than-truckload freight market, and that share is growing, as shippers look for 3PLs with assets and broad portfolios.

The transit time for containers between Russia and India will be reduced by half thanks to a recent agreement between the countries to launch a new multimodal container route.

The government of Kazakhstan expects container traffic via the Khorgos-Eastern Gate dry port to rise by 200,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units this year due to its location on the China-Europe rail route, which is growing in popularity with shippers, according to an official spokesperson of JSC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, Kazakhstan’s national railway.

SHIFT Freight, an asset-light, high-tech less-than-truckload carrier, is expanding its full-state coverage and westbound lanes.

The recent decision by Hub Group to discontinue its employee-based drayage operation in Southern California is the latest event in a tug of war between the independent contractor model of trucking and the employee model that is likely to continue for some time to come and the result will impact costs for shippers.

Privately operated Adani Hazira Port announced state-owned rail operator Container Corporation of India has begun operating a regular train service connecting the terminal with Pithampur, a busy inland destination in the central region, increasing hinterland shippers’ access to the minor, alternative gateway.

Truckload spot market rates are slipping lower, and U.S. shippers under pressure to lower costs are looking for ways to curtail or forego contract rate hikes during bids.

Canadian Pacific Railway is asking the U.S. government to vet the viability of its proposed merger with Norfolk Southern Railway.

Ukraine and Russia have blocked each other from trucking containers across each other in a tit-for-tat fight over the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, further impeding trade with the European Union after Poland blocked Russian trucks earlier this month.

E-commerce opportunities on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border are helping TransForce compensate for loss of energy, less-than-truckload volumes.

A round of belt tightening has begun at LTL and truckload carriers as U.S. trucking companies start to shift from cautious optimism about the year ahead to outright caution as the U.S. economy slows to a crawl. Although trucking executives generally expect a stronger second half of the year, “uncertain” at best describes their outlook.

South Carolina-based Southeastern Freight Lines is revamping its business in Canada, replacing an interline partnership with a direct cross-border offering that gives the company more control over door-to-door service.

U.S. domestic intermodal spot rates aren’t rising, suggesting the traditional surge of imports ahead of Chinese New Year, when Asia factories close for about two weeks, is weak.

Mentions of a recession-like environment from top transportation executives and lackluster growth in domestic and international freight volumes are sparking fears that a U.S. freight recession is upon us that could be a harbinger of something even worse: an outright economic recession.

Chassis provider TRAC Intermodal and a technology provider have unveiled cloud-based software designed to allow intermodal equipment providers and motor carriers to automate billing and reconcile invoices.

Jack Holmes, the career UPS executive who became president of UPS Freight in 2007, will retire in June. Rich McArdle, another UPS veteran, will take his place.

A Feb. 1 change in dimensional weight pricing will benefit Forward Air Corp., the CEO of the ground-air expedited transportation company told Wall Street analysts this week.

Truck drivers who have been using a secondary access road to reach a major intermodal complex in the Chicago area have been forced to cope with longer turn times, fewer trips and higher costs — and they won’t be seeing any relief any time soon.

Canadian Pacific Railway CEO E. Hunter Harrison said Wednesday he will abandon a proposed takeover of Norfolk Southern Railway if shareholders at the Virginia railroad fail to pressure their board to sit down at the negotiating table with their Canadian counterparts.

Roadrunner Transportation Systems is adding less-than-truckload network capacity in Texas and Memphis and offering a guaranteed delivery service to expand business with industrial shippers.

A new retail services division and steady automotive demand helped push Pilot Freight revenue higher last year despite falling fuel surcharges and a sluggish economy.

Canadian Pacific Railway said Tuesday it plans to submit a resolution asking Norfolk Southern Railway shareholders request their board of directors engage in “good faith discussions” with CP regarding its proposed merger, the newest approach after the Calgary-based company has been rebuffed three times.

Outlook for the Class I rail industry in 2016 varies from cautiously optimistic to downright grim. Even though intermodal service has generally improved, the railroads are finding competition from the trucking sector — for domestic loads and marine containers — as fierce as ever.

XPO Logistics will not sell its truckload division, but use the former Con-way Truckload to increase its U.S.-Mexico cross-border business.

Saia was unable to ride pricing discipline to increased profitability in the fourth quarter as volume declines, which have hit other less-than-truckload operators, proved too much to overcome for the tenth-largest U.S. LTL carrier.

Lower freight volumes drove YRC Freight to a loss in the fourth quarter, but the loss wasn’t enough to erase gains the less-than-truckload carrier made throughout the rest of 2015.

Trucking employers defied transportation hiring trends in January and added 1,500 jobs, putting more truck drivers in trucks.

At a time when LTL shipments and freight volumes in general declined, ODFL increased its fourth-quarter shipment count 8.2 percent, while increasing revenue and profit. Lower fuel surcharges slowed revenue growth, but the carrier outperformed its peers.

Organic and acquisition-fueled growth in 2015 were not enough to offset declining freight volume and falling fuel surcharge revenue in the last three months of the year for Roadrunner Transportation Systems.

ABF Freight, the less-than-truckload arm of ArcBest, laid off more than 200 dock and yard workers as LTL shipments and tonnage dropped in the fourth quarter. ArcBest's asset-light businesses saw volumes rise in the same period.

The Indian federal government on Wednesday approved a proposal allowing the Ministry of Railways to set up joint ventures with various state government agencies for the development of rail infrastructure projects in the country.

After a tumultuous year that saw a high-profile management shake-up and intermodal volume declines, Hub Group finished 2015 with a strong fourth quarter. Profit jumped double digits in the last three months of 2015 on stronger intermodal and truck brokerage freight volume and recovering rail service, the company said.

USA Truck recorded improved profits and operating ratios for both the fourth quarter and full year of 2015, despite double-digit drops in revenue, even excluding fuel surcharges, for both periods.

Lower fuel prices and a softening used truck market constrained fourth-quarter revenue growth at Ryder System, but demand for Ryder’s fleet and supply chain services remained strong.

Class 8 truck orders plummeted 35 percent month-over-month and 48 percent year-over-year in January, another sign that truck capacity may have peaked.

Shippers using C.H. Robinson Worldwide to move truckload freight saw pricing drop 3 percent on average in the fourth quarter. The logistics operator's volume, net revenue and profit, on the other hand, all rose.